The same site states that the total number of Internet users will reach somewhere around the 700 million mark this year.
Quote from a page referring to IRC, specifically an overall decline in the use of IRC:
While chat room attendance has slowed, other forms of online communication are used more frequently.
If that is true then I think it is safe to assume that what I said is correct. IRC usage simply does not equate to the use of IRC, or even the use of messengers, strangly enough.
I'm not trying to be a doomsayer, as I don't want IRC to decline but it has to be recognised that the dominant software/content providers like Micro$oft and AO-Hell are clearly giving IRC a beating. Sun hasn't helped either with their case against Micro$oft which has seen the end of Java being supplied with Windows. This now means that webchat users who don't use Micro$oft's ActiveX chatrooms now have to either be aware of the fact that Java can be obtained from Sun (few even know or care about Sun) or they need to obtain programmes like mIRC and work through another learning curve.
